Estonia Ranks 3rd in Europe in Economic Freedom

03.02.2016

According to the Hertiage Foundation’s 2016 Index of Economic Freedom, Estonia ranks 3rd in Europe and 9th globally. While the overall score for Estonia rose by 0.4 points to 77.2, the overall position was one spot lower than in 2015 globally. Estonia is surpassed in Europe by Ireland and Switzerland, while its neighbors Latvia and Lithuania ranked 36th and 13th respectively.

Notable successes in subcategories of the index included Rule of Law, Management of Public Finance and Open Markets. Estonia needs to work on Labor Freedom.

The researchers for Heritage Foundation make note of the heavy publicity the few cases of government corruption received in local media and that the judiciary is effectively insulated from government influence. Further, the reduction in personal income and corporate tax rates to 20 percent and no taxation on undistributed profits are seen as positive developments.